Enter Nakasone: Japan. (Yasuhiro Nakasone)

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AFTER the fall of Shin Kanemaru, who is to take on the awesome job of Japan's political kingmaker? Step forward, quietly, Yasuhiro Nakasone, a former prime minister. Mr Nakasone reluctantly retired in October 1987 after a term of office in which he gathered much praise for his leadership, especially from abroad. He may have hoped for an eventual comeback, but he was tarnished, along with other senior politicians in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, by the Recruit shares-for-favours scandal.

Now, it seems, Mr Nakasone is whispering words of encouragement into the ears of Kiichi Miyazawa, the present prime minister. Mr Miyazawa got his job on Mr Kanemaru's say-so and has clung to it only through the support of the Takeshita faction. …

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